DFO held a Marine Protected Area consultation session in Yarmouth to get input from industry. John Davis and Nathan Blades look over some documents. TINA COMEAU PHOTO

DFO held a Marine Protected Area consultation session in Yarmouth to get input from industry. Shelburne County fisherman Sandy Stoddard says surface fisheries shouldn't be penalized by MPAs protecting what is on the ocean bottom. TINA COMEAU PHOTO

DFO held a Marine Protected Area consultation session in Yarmouth to get input from industry. Kevin Perry, a fisherman from Port Latour, has many questions and concerns over the MPAs that are being looked at. TINA COMEAU PHOTO

DFO held a Marine Protected Area consultation session in Yarmouth to get input from industry. Marty King, an oceans planner with DFO, provides some information during the session. TINA COMEAU PHOTO

DFO held a Marine Protected Area consultation session in Yarmouth to get input from industry. TINA COMEAU PHOTO

YARMOUTH, N.S. – There was a lot of agreement and disagreement when DFO representatives met with the fishing industry to consult and share information about marine protected areas (MPAs) during a recent session in Yarmouth.

Many in the room were in agreement that they disagree with aspects of the federal government’s MPA plan and worry about the impact on the fishing and seafood industry.

The federal government has committed to putting in place MPAs to help protect species and ecosystems and there national benchmarks have been set out. The first, reached in October 2017, was to achieve a five per cent threshold when it comes to MPAs. Nationally the percentage, it was stated, it now sits at about 7.75 per cent.

DFO noted in the Maritimes region the percentage stands at 5.6 per cent, which accounts for 0.446 per cent of national waters.

The next target to be met by 2020 is 10 per cent marine protection, but the May 9 room in Yarmouth was told the sites currently being looked at will bring the level to 15 per cent by 2020. This left many questioning why the percentage is being exceeded and where it will all end.

It was a question also asked by Judith Maxwell of the Scotia-Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association. She says they’ve been part of a working group with DFO on marine protected areas – since it is usually better to be at the table than away from it – but even she was surprised to learn that the 10 per cent goal is already being exceeded should the MPAs on the table all be approved.

She said the working group and DFO are trying to pick areas that won’t have a large (and preferably not any) impact on the fisheries.

“But we all know that due to environmental reasons the patterns of our stocks are changing so we may offer up something now because we don’t fish there to reach the target or exceed it, and then in four to five years’ time that’s where the stock has moved and we’ve already closed it,” she said. “Generally when there’s a closure, there’s never a lift.”

She asked why the percentage is already being exceeded, and if that’s a better or a worse thing for the industry. Marty King, an oceans planner with DFO, said it being exceeded because an opportunity exists to include an area of deep water as an MPA that DFO says won’t have an impact on commercial fisheries.

“I think it’s a good thing because it takes the spotlight off of this region down the road,” he said, although he noted we well that 10 per cent is not the eventual end game for the federal government. The end game, he said, is to have a map showing an ecologically represented network of MPAs and for these sites to protect ecosystems but to have the least possible impact on fisheries.

There was a large cross-section of the fishing industry represented at the meeting – lobster, tuna, swordfish, aquaculture, seafood processers, First Nations, etc.

Berry said he feels the better approach to MPAs would be negotiation instead of consultation.

“Consultations really mean nothing, we’re just giving our opinions,” he said. “They might listen, they might not.” He said there is concern if the percentage of MPAs eventually reaches 25 per cent as this could heavily concentrate fisheries in certain areas due to displacement from other areas.

DFO held a Marine Protected Area consultation session in Yarmouth to get input from industry. John Davis and Nathan Blades look over some documents. TINA COMEAU PHOTO

Nathan Blades, who wears many industry hats, said what the federal government needs to remember is the Nova Scotia seafood industry is a huge economic driver – one, he said, that has been estimated to be worth about $2 billion annually with 25,000 direct jobs.

“We have the premier of this province, in the media, advocating for an incoming oil and gas sector that is going to create real jobs. These are 25,000 real jobs that are under threat by this proposed map for marine protected areas,” he said. “I’m all for the name of science, and I’m all for protection of areas. But this is the incumbent industry and you have to be more respectful to this industry,” he told the DFO officials.

There was also much discussion about oil and gas with John Davis of the Clean Ocean Action Committee saying that unless the fisheries minister exercises his power to exclude oil and gas from future marine protected areas you won’t have marine protected areas – you will only have fishing restricted areas.

There was also concern raised about allowing oil and gas exploration on areas bordering MPAs.

Another part of the conversation at the session dealt with federal legislation that states that if oil and gas leases are terminated because of an MPA the oil and gas industry can be compensated.

“There’s no provision in the law to compensate fishermen for any of this,” said Colin Sproul of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association. “If there is to be compensation that is in the best interest of the Nova Scotia economy it should be to the fishing industry and not to the oil industry.”

He also said when it comes to MPAs, for his association everything starts and stops with the fact that the N.S. premier appointed the province’s energy minister to represent Nova Scotians on marine protected areas.

“What possible justification can it be for it not to be the ministers of environment or fisheries?” said Sproule, who said despite what government says he and others believe fisheries will be impacted by MPAs. Pointing to an MPA proposed for the Fundian Channel-Browns Bank – a topic of discussion at this meeting – and where it has been suggested that species such as cusk and coral would be protected in deep waters, Sproule said, “Swordfish longline fishermen who would be the most affected by this closure, and would be essentially the main fishery that was ejected from this area, have no effect on cusk. Their gear floats on the surface of the ocean.”

That point was also made quite passionately by Shelburne County fisherman Sandy Stoddard who said, “Leave fisheries who have no impact alone.”

DFO held a Marine Protected Area consultation session in Yarmouth to get input from industry. Kevin Perry, a fisherman from Port Latour, has many questions and concerns over the MPAs that are being looked at. TINA COMEAU PHOTO

Kevin Perry, a swordfish fisherman from Port Latour, worries the plan for the MPA(s) being looked at for the Martime region will "wipe us out," he told DFO officials. He also spoke of the concern over displacement and the ripple effect that can have in other fishing areas and said all of this weighs very heavily on his mind, particularly given the expenses involved in fishing.

DFO says when it comes to determining future MPAs it is early in the process and the intention is not to put fishing industries at risk.

“No final decisions have been made concerning boundaries or restrictions,” said King. He said DFO is very interested in working with the industry to come up with a series of rules and regulations “that’s not only going to protect the ecosystem but also supports sustainable fisheries.”

DFO says an MPA does not automatically restrict fishing from taking place there, noting there is still some fisheries allowed in offshore MPAs in the Maritimes region. What helps to determine this is an ecological risk assessment. Science presentations are also taken into consideration, along with input from fisheries working groups.

DFO added that designating MPAs is not an overnight process and each MPA involves many steps. The first step is to announce an area of interest. The second is to gather and assess information. Step 3 is to design the site, although many in the room felt this step should be closer to the start of the process, saying it is hard to give input on an area when you don’t know for certain what the boundaries and restrictions will be. Step 4 would be to designate the MPA, which includes a public consultation period that the timeline refers to happening in 2019-2020. Step 5 is to manage the MPA.

The steps outlined by DFO in a Marine Protection Area designation process.